1000000031

R E L I G ION,

T H E O L O G Y.

537

Lave

wTote m3ny

ruperfiitious lraditions , which they obfervc

as rerupulouOy as Ihe law of M or.. ; and have airo made ma.

commentnies

lhe fd.:ICd l! Xt, arr:ong

wh¡ch there

are fome , h.. are good and uferul. The language Ihey ufe

is·diffúeot rrcm the carnman Htbrew, as is

40110

lhe R"b·

¡'inic charaéter.

VII. Tne

ral/DI/d

is a ·book in whieh Ihe j <\lIs have

compriCC!d every

thlng

that concerns the

exphcOI1.Ofl

thelr

h w, and

fhe

dtHies

,that

are enjoined

them

(cripture,

traditioD, or

authority of their doélors;

(belr par.

ticular culloros, their civil

'lvernrr.em

thei r doél-rine. their

ccr cmonic:s. tReir mor",1 Iht'ology'.

lhe

decifions of cafes of

con(cienct:,

oc.

The T.dmud is compofed, in general, of

t\Va paru; which are'called, the

JIIlifchna.

and lhe

Gé~nara~

T he ] .!ws would

nOl

at 6rH commlt (hefe things

writing;

bu, alter Ihe ¡jeClruélion of j erurdlem, finding ,hemfelve,

rlifperfed in Ihe world, ,hey

bcc.me

obliged 'o do il .. They

had 'wo eelcbr.,ed fehools, one a, BabylQn, and ,he olber

J erur.lem; al Ihefe fdlools wúe made IWO· diff"renl col·

leéllons of " aditions.

e.eh

of whieb

called ,be T almud.

T he commentary, caJled Gémara. contains the dec¡Gons of

the j ewt!h dcBors, aod thc::ir expllcations of the text;

Ít

filJed with

abfurdi[ie~,

reveries, and ¡gnonnce, and wriuen

in a vulgar

llyle

On the Cootral

the text, lhat is called

Mi~

hn., confifls offolicl rearoning. wrinen in apure (!Jle.

The Rabbin M o(e,. Con of M'¡\!lnon. has made an .bridgc–

men' of it, which i, of more value Iban even ,he T almud it.

felr.

VIII

T he Cabbala or K.bala (a H ebrew word, which

propefiy fignifi es tradltioil) conuios the ddterent interpreta–

, ions of Ihe laws of G od by d,ffcrenl n..bbin,; ,heir ·ded.

lions on fhe obligations thu thev impofe , and the rn,Joner of

.peiforrning them. There are fome of them that ate occule

and myflerious, and eonfifl in fingular and myflie lignifica·

tions which are given-

word, Or even to each of 1he

leuers that compoCe it; jlod fron] lhtfe various combinations,

they draw explications of lhe fcriptüre very

difF~rt'nt

from

,h.,

whieh il feems narurally 10 import. This

Cabb.la

divided intO ,hree kinds: Ihe firfl ,hey call

C¿lIIalria ,

and

conG(ls in taking [he letters for lhe

numben

of arithmetick,

and explaining .aeh word by Ihe arilhmelick value of ,he

numbtrs rhat compoCe it : the fl!cond is called

NOlaricon,

¡nd canlills in

taking

eac4 lener for

word, Or

compo,

ling a wnrd of Ihe firil leners offeveral IVord.: Ihe Ihiru is

called

r hémura,

and eonGfls in ehanging a word, and Ihe

leners of which it is compoled.

IX. The

"ChalJu

fcems 'o be indiCpenfibl e, af,er

the

~udy

of lhe Hebrew and Rabbinic

thls is pro·

perly no more lhan a pan icu ldr

dial~a

of the Ho::olc\V

LID·

guage. T he Jews

gi"e

tJwir

comOlcntarics.

~ nd

the

Chaldaic paraphrafe on ,he SCripl"«. Ihe litle of

Targum.

A s, dUriAg Iheir long eaplivilY in Babylon. Ihey had fo[got

the Hecrew, and ..nly retaÍned the Cbaldt:.tn hnguage, ir

became necelTal y tO explocin the prophc\s in

t~,lt

langllotge ;

and to this necdlity is owing the

flrlt

commencement of the

Ch. ld. an parilphrafe, The

R a~b,ns

have linee coll<élcd

10,

gether thefe·d¡vers

IOh:fJ~relations

of lheir doétors, wlHch

form Ihe paraphrafe Lh. 1 is ealled T.rgom.

. X. The other oricntal langu:\ges, as lhe Arabic,

lhe

Sy..:

nac, the Samariran . and (he Copríc, are

alfo

of great u[e

to the learned

th~olosian

XL Alllhe book. or ,he NeIV T eOamen, bein2 \V'ole io

ereek, ,be [ludy of

,ha,

languase becomes occ<fiJry

the

theologian. But

rr.ufi

001

im~gincd,

tb:l.t

thi5

pre~k.

í,S

that of Athens or Lacedemon; and

thiU

they who under.

lIand

Ih~

NelV Teflameo l; \ViII fully eomprehend Hcmer,.

A nacreon, or ThucidyJes

very

neceff.uy

obfe'vc

here,

th.tt duri.og

(he

BabylooiCh captivily, the Jews,

as.

we have

jufl:

f..tld, having forgot lhe Hcbl'ew, and

hav;l:!g

ad9ptt:d, in procefs of time, Ceveral ¡dioms, the Greek

lan.

gUdge ",as .,laU ffieetfsfully diíF"fed over ,I01ofl alhhe <aU;.–

an~,

al ,he lime of [he eoming or J efus Chrill upon the

(arlh, that

!angu1se

was in ufe

Pale(line,

not~ Of~ly.¡¡'Dlong

men of Jo::tters, but

the

polite

w,orld : erery thtng was

wrote, ever'y thing \Vas

trened

or,

Greck. The

Jews no

longer underrtoQod Ih. H oly Seriplures in Ihe Hebrew I. n;

guage, bUI made ufe or lhe verGoo Ihatlhe Sep lu'gín, had

made nf Ibe Old T eflamen, io Ihe Greek language. The e,

vangelifis and

[he

apotues, therefore, wrote lhc:ir

hiCloric

reJadons,

wlIlI

their; epiUles or leHers, in the fantc

language: bu, Iheir Uyle is no, pure, being flreloVed wiln

hebraifms and barbarifml, aQd

.with

lheological terms

2.~d

phraCes. The four cvangelitlsdiffer,.moreover, among

thcm.

felves, wilh regard 'o Iheir flyle

and ro do Ihe apoOle"

S, Mallhew i. no' fo elegan, as SrJoho; nor SI J ude fo

clegant as

Paul, who \vas a man of leHers, and ao

ablc;

writer.

The

d¡{tion of

Luke

is the

moll elegant,

and

mol! corretl, efpecially io his book.oflhe atls orlhe apoOks.

XII..The "anOalÍon. Iha, .have be... made of lhe faered

books in ,he wen, wllI alfo very fre'luenrly a(]in ¡D.clearío.!:

up many palfdges .

X II.!. The J ewilh ,oliquities ·are. n..

u~ally

cooneéled

",i,b Ihe ltudy of ,he faered hiflory of Ihe Old. TeUamenl.

J o¡.pl,uJ

Ihe bel1 aUlhor · who has \VIOle ón Ihis fubj eél:

J .-n Jl1arjham, VoffUJl, úliul, C)'rflldul,

&c. are Ihe

moderos [O

whom

we are indebted for learned Ic:feHches

in .

thele maten.

Hertllannul

¡-Yi/jiul.

his treatiCe

IE~

gypliacil,

has ,hfOIVo admir.ble. lighlS on Ihe E gyp,iaD

a~riqllilles. The aOliquities of lhe Chaldeaos, BJ.bylo01ans.

Pe,fians aod M . des,

h~s

been eKcellenl!y well explaioed

Barl1ab,u

Brijfoll,

infhis boo"

deugno

rege Perfarmll;

and by

Thomal

H, de,

his trealife

rdigione el j acrir

Polarum

The writings of

fl'IeurjiuJ,

and

theCo1/Jpo/diwlJ.

AlJliquilalum CrlZcaru711

J ohn

P "I/er,

are very ,ufeful

'o give Iheologians ao idea of wha, Ihey will nnd nec.Wary

know

[he

Grecian

antiqu¡t!~

;

~Dd

lam)"

th,e

abn~e_

me",

Canl./lVul

make IheÍll fullicieorly ae'luarnled

w"il

tht Latio :tntiquitics.

XIV.

Spencu

has given an excellent work on the

c~re:·

monies of

the

Jewilh religion.

L~gibul Hr:b,,~oru1ll

ri..:.

IlIalibul,

&e.

\'1e

have IIk.ewir. wOlk. ,har rully " ear of

[heir temples .. lhd rr.tcrilic.:s, their ,p,ie(ls and Levites, their

pafTover

and

pUrlOl,

or,

rheir

tithes, ,their vd tOlCnts. and fa·

creu

habits,

2nd

thelr

maon~rs

and cafloms

would

rCiO

pTolix

mention

all,fhcfe in this place,

XV. The n,od"A eommen\aries on Ihe Holy Seriplure.

may.alfo ft:rv.c

inftnll..'l the young theologian; but he

fnould ure Ihem \Vilh caolioo aod mod<ralioD. AII ,h..

gliucrs

not gold, as weH in this intlance as in .others.j and

a n" n of learping lhanld 001 ¡¡[len make ure of o,her p, o–

pIes eyes.

XVr.

The Bibb called

P o/yg/Oll

are alfo or grea,

•

liflance in inferpreting the Cacred text . They

ar~

printed

in feverallangu'g" . The

G,fI

is ,!>a' of cardinal

)(Jm",,,,

prin,ed in Ihe year 15 t 5, and e. lled Ihe

Bibl. of Como

p/~I,

cootaios Ihe H ebr<w

,ex"

,il,

Chald,.n

n.ro

pbiafr••